Refrigerant flue ice and method



H. S. MAYALL REFRIGERANT FLUE ICE AND METHOD July 9, 1929.

Filed June 2, 1927 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented July 9., 19279.

UNITED STATES HARRY S. MAYALL, 0F SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

REFRIGERAN T FLUE ICE AND METHOD. i

Application, led .Tune 2,

The object of this invention is to provide an improved method and means for rendering ice more eiiiciently refrigerant, whereby either natural or artificial ice can be made more efficient.

The invention also resides inthe ice made in accordance With this invention, as a novel article of manufacture.

It is well known that machine refrigeration can be adjusted to maintain low temperatures irrespective ofthe high temperature of the surrounding air and that either natural or artificial ice, as now formed or made, is strictly limited to exposure of its exterior area in its effect upon air to be cooled and is therefore not susceptible of adjustment, as regards its refrigerating action.

Now it is a cardinal feature of my invention not only to increase the refrigerant capacity of cake ice but also to vary such action thereof.

i In one phase of my invention, I perform this function by exposing an internal portion of the ice, as well as external portions, to the surrounding air or liquid in which the ice is disposed or immersed, the result being that the refrigerant action is immeasurably increased.

In a more strictly specific form of my invention, I provide a cake of ice with a series or a plurality of refrigerant flues, Which may be air or liquid flues, for the purpose of exposing internal portions of the ice and thereloy increase the melting rate.

lt is a feature of my invention to extendv the refrigerant fines completely through a cake of ice, preferably froln one face to the other, whereby I not only succeed in exposing internal portions of the ice, but I also provide channels affprding actual passage of air therethrough so as to obtain an even greater refrigerant action than has heretofore been possible with solid cake ice. V If the service involves passage of air under pressure, then, it is a feature of my invention to provide refrigerant air iues of a different character than if gravity passage of air is involved.

lt is a feature of my invention to provide means for regulating refrigeration from this novel form of cake ice in accordance with the requirements so that the melting rate may 'be increased or decreased as requirements dictate.

The invention has many other features and objects that will be more fully described in 1927. Serial No. 196,056.

connection with the accompanying drawing and which will be more particularly pointed out in and by the appended claims.

In the drawing;

Fig. 1, is a vertical sectional view of a conyentional form of ice chest showing how my improved article of manufacture functions where the flow of air is by gravity.

Fig. 2, is a view in section showing how the article functions where a forced air blast is involved.

Fig. 3, is a sectional view of mechanisms for molding ice in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 4, is a plan View of a cake of ice made in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 5, is a view in side elevation of a cake of ice in which the fiues do not extend completely through.

Fig. 6, is a View showing how the invention is applied in forming cube ice.

Like characters of reference designate similar parts throughout the different figures of the drawing.

First describing the article shown in Figs. 1 and 4, l designates a cake of ice which is shown as a molded cake and which may be of any dimension in accordance with the pan or mold in which it is formed. I have shown said calce provided with openings whereby internal as well as external portions may be exposed, and as specifically illustrated, lsaid openings are in the form of refrigerant'air fines 2, which extend completely through the cake 1, from 'one external face to the other. It will be noted that the dues 2, are disposed in parallel relation and the number and size of the fines may be selected in accordance with the service to be performed.

Where gravity air flow is the service in volved and the ice is called upon to function as an initiator of such flow, the showing in Fig. 1, is illustrative.

I have conventionally shown an ice chest 3, of any suitable wall construction having a partition 4, dividing off the food chamber 5, from the ice chamber 6, openings 7 and 9 affording a complete cycle for the air, shown by the arrows. An ice shelf 9, supports the cake of ice 1, with the lines 2, in a vertical position, and as shown, the shelf El has openings through which air may freely pass. I may bloeit the cake of ice 1, off from actual contact with shelf 9, by means such as strips Il, to reduce air restriction. Further, as one means of controlling the melting rate, I may make a portion of shelf 9, imperforate, as indicated at 12, and cut olf circulation through one flue when the ice cake is set directly upon the shelf. As another form of controlling means, a sheet of paper or a small woolen blanket may be disposed on top of the cake to cnt olf circulation through any or all of the lues, as indicated at 12.

It will now be clear that not only the outer faces of cake 1, but also the flues 2, generate movement of the air through the cycle of travel indicated by the arrows. I will term y this a gravity movement of the air by reason of the fact that it is because the heavier air cooled by the ice, descends, and thereby causes ascent of the lighter air. The air passing downwardly through iues 2, because of the relative restriction formed thereby, will actually reach a lower temperature than the air acted upon by the outside faces of cake 1, by reason of the greater volume of air upon which the latter must act, As the ice melts, the fines 2 enlarge, and instead of a cake melting to a relatively small inefficient block of ice, as a slow and low capacity refrigerant agent. the cake will melt practically uniformly and comparatively quickly both externally and internally, thereby insuring the requisite low temperature in the food chamber. If a slower melting rate is desired by reason of a milder condition outside, the means for regulating the melting rate may be employed, as heretofore described. It is noted that when one end of a flue 2 is cove-red, the interior of the ice is still exposed to air that is not moving, in which event, the melting rate would be slower than if exposed to moving air. It is also within the province of my invention to equip the ice with flues or openings 13, which do not extend completely through the cake, as indicated at 13, in Fig. 5. Therefore, I have shown various regulatory means for limiting the rapidity of melting, from the maximum.

Y invention is employed forA lowering 1 temperature of theatres or rooms of any kind, a cake 14, may be interposed in a casing passage l5, having an air blast device 16, which is a. simple and general showing for such service. The ice `cake 14, is supported in the casing 15 in a manner to expose the outer faces to the air blast,` as shown. The cake of ice 14, will be provided with lues 17 The size of the flues 1 7 Will be formed with respect to the character of the blast. Vith a forced blast, it will be clear that the lues need not be as large or as numerous as with a gravity air arrangement, as shown for instance in Fig. 1. Therefore, with this disclosure, the skill of the maker of ice will respond to the degree and size of the l flues required.

Reference will next be made to the mechanism and method for forming ice in accordance with this invention.

In Fig. 3, I have lshown a brine tank 18 hav ing a brine or suitable freezing solution 19, therein, extending to a level 20. A pan or ice mold structure ris disposed in said tank in spaced relation withthe walls and bottom thereof, as shown, and said structure consists of a bottom wall 2l, and upstanding walls 22, the latter being formed with the usual divergence. Refrigerant .flue forming tubes 0" are shown threaded or otherwise detachably connected with bottom wall 21, and disposed in spaced relation to each other and to the side walls 22. The tubes 23 are suitably tapered and are connectedwith bottom wall 21 in a manner to open into tank 18, so that the freezingysolution 19 will ascend the tubes 23, to a level equal to the level 20, in the tank, or at any rate, above the ice to be formed in the mold. lVater is deposited in the mold structure to a level below the level of the solution` so that in freezing the water, the solution will not only act on exterior, but will also act on interior portions of the water body, thereby greatly hastening the operation of freezing the cake and also improving the quality of the ice by making it of uniform density. rIhus, by myimproved method and mechanism. there need not be any snow in the center ofthe ice. cake.

It will be seen that in one phase of the invention, it is an object not only to facilitate the operation of freezing a cake of ice, but to freeze the same more uniformlyY and with a more even density, irrespective of whether the flues or openings perform the subsequent functions. as such. Thus, I may, in some embodiments, only extend the opening part way through the ice cake when the sole desideratum is to facilitate freezing. For this purpose, I have shown one tube` shorter than the rest. which would form an opening with a blind end. Any suitable air egress would of course be provided to let the solution ascend in such shorter tube. Thus, with a short forming tube, I would extend the act ion of the freezing solution into the interior portions of the water body and hasten the freezing operation. That is one reason why the tubes 23 and 23 are shown detachablv secured so that tubes of different character can be employed in one and the same mold to obtain ice products of diferent character.

rIhe invention is well adapted to and finds an advantageous use in connection with small cubes of ice that are now formed in refrigerators, which feature I will next describe.

A portion ofthe shallow cube forming pan such as is now commonly used in refrigerators, is shown as having a bottom wall 2l, an end wall 25 and a partition wall 26, it being understood that these pans are divided into a plurality of cube forming chambers 27. I equip each chamber with a flue forming tube 28, that may be secured to the bottom lOO wall 24, and which may extend upwardly in the water to form a flue extending through one dimension ofthe ice cube. In this embodiment of the invention, instead of employing a brine or other freezing solution, the freezing agent is the cold air in the refrigerator surrounding the cube pan and acting through the thin walls thereof and the ltube 28, on exterior and interior portions -of the Water.

lVhen this form of cube is disposed in a glass containing any kind of a drink, the cooling action of the cube is materially enhanced by reasonof the liquid flue wall acting on the contents of the glass, in `addition to the outer faces of the cube, thereby hastening the melting of the cube.

It will be noted that the lues canbe so equally distributed that all the intervening portions of water will be of substantially the same cross sectional area, and hence, the

freezing action can be applied to not only more quickly form ice, ,but also, to' form ice of a more uniform density. Thus, the invention not only hastens vthe formation of ice but it also increases its efficiency, thereby performing a dual function.

Further, ice made in accordance with my invention, is of reduced Weifrht with respect to solid ice, which is a factor oflgreat importance both in shipment and delivery service.

The invention affords a 'means whereby the iiues, which function as conveyance flues, are not only of a relatively small and duct-like size', but are so relatively closely disposed and so substantially uniformly spaced and dis- `posed throughout one cross section of the cake that a large cake of ice can be sub-divided into smaller cakes and each subdivision will have one or more fines therein intact. It will also be noted that such hores in the ice, in accordance with my invention, are not mere openings, but are conveyance liues, which perform a function analogous to the accepted definition of a flue.

It is believed that the invention will be fully understood from the foregoing descrip tion, and I do not wish to be limited thereby except for such limitations as Athe claims may impart.

I claim:

l. As a new and useful article, a cake of ice having a plurality of relatively small size duct-like conveyance refrigerant flues extending therethrough and substantially uniformly distributed throughout one cross section of the cake, thereby permitting sub-didivision of the cake into useful sizes containing one or more flues intact in each subdivision.

2.' As a new and useful article of manufac ture, a cake of ice'having a duct-like refrigerant Hue therethrough for exposing an interior portion of the ice`to increase the refrigerant action of the latter.

3. As a new and useful article of manufacture, -a molded cake of ice having a plurality of duct-like refrigerant air :dues molded therein and extending in parallel relation from opposite faces of the cake to expose in-` terior'portions thereof to the outer air and `thereby increase the refrigerant action of the ice. Y4.' As a new and useful article of manufacture, a molded cake of ice having a plurality of duct-like iues therein extending from different faces of the cake of ice to increase the refrigerant action of thelatter.

5. In combination, a cake of ice `having a plurality of flues therethrough, and means for closlng one or more flues to regulate the melting rate of the ice. 4

6. The herein-'described method of freezing a cake of ice, which consists, in confining a HARRY S. MAYALL. 

